


Lonely

by SensationalSista



Series: Wedding Coda [1]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: 5x06, Friendship, Longing, wedding aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 11:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6955066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SensationalSista/pseuds/SensationalSista
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>one-shot: Harold & Root friendship drabble after the wedding in 5x06 (obvious references to Shoot)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lonely

**Author's Note:**

> Totally just a very short Harold & Root friendship drabble; so many feels after that episode

The steps were languid as the man and woman made their way into the hidden subway station. The lone occupant sprang to life at the return of his people, tail wagging as he trotted over from his dog bed.

“Bear,” Harold and Root said simultaneously in greeting, bending to pet the guard dog, before the older of the two sent the beast back to his post.

Harold looked at Root. “I hope you had a good time tonight,” he said, air of caution in his timbre; a usual act when confronting the elusive hacker. But he was met with the half-hearted smile from earlier that day.

“Of course Harry,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. “It’s nice to see a fairy-tale ending actually work out every now and then.”

“It was pleasing to see.. wasn’t it?”

The air was heavy at the pondering thought, both parties easily feeling the weight collecting upon their war ridden shoulders. Root looked at the older man, both sets of eyes sharing and understanding a familiar sensation of loss at the statement.

The heaviness in silence becoming unbearable, Root recovered from the moment quickest and shook her head. Her eyes grew sullen, the loss of spark evident even more so than throughout the day where she could hide behind seemingly never ending eventfulness. “Well, unfortunately those type of endings aren’t meant for people like us. I won’t be riding off into the sunset again any time soon.”

Before the computer engineer could reply to the suddenly detached tone, Root had spun and made her way into the small storage area which still housed some of her belongings as she jumped around between identities. Harold watched her for a moment more, sadness in his own heart. He took a step toward his desk, foot catching on paper on the floor.

Reaching down, pushing what seemed to be empty sandwich bags to the side, he grabbed onto a fairly heavy magazine. Flipping it in his grip, his eyes took in the wedding gown depicted on the cover; the words “Forever & Always” spread across the top. He snuck a peak back over to where the hacker crouched, pulling out clothes from a stored box. With the magazine in hand, Harold felt the sadness in his heart bloom alive again.

He was going to place it on the table to be within the woman’s reach when she returned, but a trace bulge in the pages caught his eye; a purposefully dog-eared page. Nimbly, he opened to the page, a melancholy smile pulled at the corner of his lip for the most transient of appearances.

The page displayed the back of a woman in an open back gown, long black hair up in a ponytail but cascading in waves down a sallow skinned back. The woman’s head turned coyly over her shoulder in the slightest; strands of black bangs the only thing obscuring the woman’s facial identity from the camera. Even Harold could recognize the striking similarity that this model held to their missing colleague at first glance, and the title beneath the image could not have twisted a knife worse into still sensitive hearts.

_‘She’ll have you as mesmerized as if it’s the last time you’ll see her.’_

He slammed the magazine shut, head hanging low only able to grasp portions of what Root must be experiencing. Stuck in the uncertainty of whether this was a life, with _her_ person, to hope for or one she should give up on. _Oh Miss Groves.._

His head shot up as his ears picked up the returning click of high heels. The presence beside him made him turn looking into the curious eyes. Uncomfortably, he handed the magazine back to the surprised looking woman.

After a moment of hesitation, as if fighting with her self restraint, Root shook her head and waved the book aside dismissively. “That was an impulsive steal. I guess it’s hard to let go of a silly dream.” Her voice wavered slightly, perhaps fatigued by the day’s endeavors or at the slowly loss of argument that had been increasing inside of her for month. Maybe it was that loneliness that kept creeping back into her conscious. It did not matter.

Harold would not let her drop the topic. This topic.

“Keep it,” he said earnestly, taking the moment of her confusion to push the magazine into her hand. “Keep that dream. Keep _hoping_. Maybe one day.. _this_ could be possible.” He looked up into her now shining eyes, his own hidden beneath thick glasses yet displaying something akin to a pained longing of their own. “Even for people like us.”

Root swallowed thickly, but accepted the magazine; thumb absentmindedly finding and sliding over the marked off page. She smiled, softly and honestly this time, to the man. She whispered a quiet appreciation before catching him in a light hug. He returned it, a little awkwardly but with sincere compassion to his friend.

As the hacker pulled back, smile still on her face, she spoke quietly. “Perhaps, if we all make it out alive.. You, me, John, Lionel, Sameen.. If the worse does _not_ come to pass..” She trailed off, the mildly hopeful tone contrasting a similar discussion topic they had shared nearly a year ago; a time where everything was not quite as dire as it all seemed now, but crucial and life changing all together. A blush came across her cheeks as she breathed a laugh. “Would you walk me down the aisle?”

The words struck him so powerfully, a sensation of happiness flooded into his heart at watching the remorse morph into trust in the woman’s eyes; this light feeling similar to what a father must feel when his daughter is asking this very question. Amongst all troubles they face, they face it together.

Harold could not be prouder to say, “Nothing would please me more, Miss Groves.”


End file.
